{"id":118729,"date":"2025-06-23T15:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/118729\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T15:33:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:33:11","slug":"pacers-staffer-has-tense-moment-with-espn-crew-while-consoling-tj-mcconnell-at-nba-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/118729\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers staffer has tense moment with ESPN crew while consoling TJ McConnell at NBA Finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One member of the Pacers staff wasn\u2019t having it when ESPN cameras filmed TJ McConnell crying in her arms after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/22\/sports\/thunder-pull-away-from-pacers-to-win-nba-championship\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indiana\u2019s loss to the Thunder<\/a> in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/22\/sports\/thunder-pull-away-from-pacers-to-win-nba-championship\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>ESPN cameras followed McConnell into the tunnel at OKC\u2019s Paycom Center, where the blonde, who appeared to be with the team, was waiting to console him privately after Indiana\u2019s 103-91 defeat at the hands of the Thunder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStop!\u201d she said as she put her hand up to the camera.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">An ESPN camera got a little too close to T.J. McConnell after the Pacers fell in Game 7 to the Thunder and is told to stop filming. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a8s9IhHq5G\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/a8s9IhHq5G<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/awfulannouncing\/status\/1936983844810600915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">June 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The camera followed the pair as they walked arm-in-arm down the hallway.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell kept his head down and on the woman\u2019s shoulder as she instructed the cameraperson to stop filming.<\/p>\n<p>A reported Pacers staffer told ESPN cameras to stop filming TJ McConnell, who was crying in her arms after Indiana\u2019s loss to the Thunder in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 22, 2025. X<\/p>\n<p>A reported Pacers staffer told ESPN cameras to stop filming TJ McConnell, who was crying in her arms after Indiana\u2019s loss to the Thunder in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 22, 2025. X<\/p>\n<p>A reported Pacers staffer told ESPN cameras to stop filming TJ McConnell, who was crying in her arms after Indiana\u2019s loss to the Thunder in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 22, 2025. X<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, they backed off. <\/p>\n<p>McConnell also received support from Pacers alum Reggie Miller, who was waiting to console the team in the back hallways at Paycom Center.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran guard \u2014 who stepped up when Tyrese Haliburton <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/22\/sports\/tyrese-haliburton-crumbles-to-court-in-pacers-injury-nightmare-early-in-game-7-of-nba-finals\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">went down with an Achilles injury<\/a> \u2014 was crying in Miller\u2019s arms, as seen in a social media video.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists.<\/p>\n<p>The Pacers will be faced with a decision at the point guard position if Haliburton misses the entirety of the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell proved himself a worthy candidate with his strong performance in the Pacers\u2019 postseason run, which included upsets of the Cavaliers and Knicks, and came up one win short of a championship.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One member of the Pacers staff wasn\u2019t having it when ESPN cameras filmed TJ McConnell crying in her&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,6,1220,11,197,179,114,66,2086],"class_list":{"0":"post-118729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-finals","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-nba-playoffs-2025","16":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","17":"tag-pacers","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-sports-entertainment"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114733410200130471","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}